A new strawweight champion will be crowned very soon.
Zhang Weili just vacated the UFC Strawweight title and will challenge Valentina Shevchenko for the flyweight belt at UFC 322 in Madison Square Garden. That leaves the division without a champion. But that will change on October 25 as Virna Jandiroba is scheduled to face Mackenzie Dern at UFC 321.
Virna Jandiroba was originally the next challenger for the strawweight title. Though she made her UFC debut on a loss against Carla Esparza, Jandiroba has managed to turn her career around and is currently in the middle of a five fight winning streak. It all started with the unanimous decision win over Angela Hill. Then Jandiroba got the better of Marina Rodriguez (by unanimous decision at UFC 288), Loopy Godinez (by unanimous decision at UFC on ESPN: Blanchfield vs. Fiorot), Amanda Lemos (by submission at UFC on ESPN: Lemos vs. Jandiroba), and Yan Xiaonan (by unanimous decision at UFC 314). Jandiroba has previously won the Invicta FC Strawweight Championship and has gotten most of her wins via submission. Jandiroba’s professional record stands at 22 wins and 3 losses.
Mackenzie Dern is currently on a solid two-fight winning streak. The UFC veteran is a mixed bag in her last six fights as Dern has both won and lost three; however, her impressive wins over Loopy Godinez (by unanimous decision at UFC on ABC: Sandhagen vs. Nurmagomedov) and Amanda Ribas (by submission at FC Fight Night: Dern vs. Ribas 2) got her within the top five of the division rankings. Dern’s professional record currently stands at 15 wins and 5 losses.
The strawweight title match joins a stacked card that will see the returns of Alexander Volkov and Aleksandar Rakic. The UFC Heavyweight title bout between Tom Aspinall and Ciryl Gane headlines the event.
Check out the advertised card below:
UFC 321 Main Card:
- 265 lbs.: UFC Heavyweight championship: Tom Aspinall vs. Ciryl Gane
- 115 lbs.: UFC Strawweight Championship: Mackenzie Dern vs. Virna Jandiroba
- 265 lbs.: Alexander Volkov vs. Jailton Almeida
- 205 lbs.: Aleksandar Rakic vs. Azamat Murzakanov
- 265 lbs.: Hamdy Abdelwahab vs. Chris Barnett
- 185 lbs.: Ikram Aliskerov vs. Jun Yong Park
- 125 lbs.: Azat Maksum vs. Mitch Raposo
- 115 lbs.: Jaqueline Amorim vs. Mizuki Inoue